JVH comments on Parking News every day at PT Blog &#38;#x2013; log on at www.parkingtoday.com. Each month, there are at least 40 other comments like these, posted daily.

If you go to the online edition

of July 2010 Parking Today, you will find all the hot links below. And even more current comments by PT Editor JVH.

Wanda has it nailed (Posted June 8) I had to laugh &#38;#x2013; Periodically, I

check out PT&#38;#x2019;s Facebook page just to be current on what our &#38;#x201C;fans&#38;#x201D; are saying. Wanda, a denizen of the Internet, com- mented that only in Marin County, CA, would one find parking, cows and a poet laureate mentioned in three successive sentences. Here&#38;#x2019;s the story: Plans to crack down on parking

scofflaws in Stinson Beach are sched- uled for adoption by the Board of Super- visors on Tuesday. The board plans to boost fines for parking violators in Stin- son, Bolinas and Muir Beach from $63 to $99. The board also will meet the county&#38;#x2019;s new poet laureate, Lyn Follett, review the county livestock and agricul- tural report for 2009, and consider next fiscal year&#38;#x2019;s open space district budget. Here&#38;#x2019;s whatWanda said: Ok, this just crackedme up:-)Only

CUSTOM FACADE

inMarin County:-) Haha:-)Where else would you have parking, livestock and a poet laureate mentioned in one breath:-) So they park the happy cows and then, fine the unhealthy, hormone fed ones.While they try to mind their budget and their poet laureate compos- es a sonnet about it all:-)Maybe that is why I bought a cookbook: &#38;#x201C;Organic Marin.&#38;#x201D; It is poetic, way above my budget and it makes me want to park myself at the nearest beach while being called a &#38;#x201C;scofflaw.&#38;#x201D; Go,Wanda

City considers what private sector has been doing for years (Posted June 7) The city of Des Moines owns an

However you look at it . . .

Par-Kut portable steel buildings outlast any other.

Quality, low maintenance

materials make the difference. Since 1954, we&#38;#x2019;ve been the parking industry&#38;#x2019;s first choice for durable, attractive booths and enclosures. Visit us online or call us for a quotation.

excess of parking in its downtown area. A couple ofmajor tenants aremoving to new digs and a three-quarters of a mil- lion square feet are about to be vacant. The city is working with the building owners to give new tenants attractive (read that free) parking rates in its garages. Everyone wins &#38;#x2013; city fills garages, new tenants move downtown, taxes are paid, employees are hired. All is right with the world. You can read about it here.

Many times leasing agents will use parking as a &#38;#x201C;loss leader&#38;#x201D; providing so many low-price or free spaces to entice companies to lease space. However, this is usually for only part of the lease, say, for two years of a five-year lease. My only comment is that, according to the article, the city is offering free parking for seven years. They might have been better off if they had someone from the parking industry negotiate the deal. Sev- en years seems a bit heavy to me.

Entrepreneurs cost city citation dollars (Posted June 7) A couple of enterprising youngmen

have started a business in Santa Moni- ca, CA. For $60 a year, they will patrol the streets in your area, and if you forget tomove your car on street-sweeping day, they will call, text, and knock on your door and remind you. The fine for not moving your car for street cleaning is $61. You must do it twice a week, so that&#38;#x2019;s 104 chances to make a mistake. These fellows have about 60 customers, and their business is growing. They esti- mate that so far this year, they have cost the city $12,000 in fines. One woman commented that she got an average of two tickets amonth. There are, of course, apps for your

iPhone and Blackberry that will remind you to move your car or return to the meter before it goes into over- time, but having personal service is a great idea, too. Hats off to these two. SantaMonica

has a reputation for being extremely strictwith their citationwriting. Remem- ber the story we ran here a couple of weeks ago where some news reporters were ticketed on camera as they broad- cast live fromthe city? JVH

You could have read these entries

when they were originally posted at Park- ing Today&#38;#x2019;s Blog &#38;#x2013; and commented, if you liked &#38;#x2013; by logging on to www.parkingto- day.com and clicking on &#38;#x201C;blog.&#38;#x201D; JVH updates the blog almost every day.